Katie Pavlich Reminds Schumer How the Shutdown Could Have Been Easily Avoided
Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich reminded Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that the partial government shutdown could have easily been avoided after he lamented that it cost the economy $11 billion.
“According to (the Congressional Budget Office), the five-week shutdown cost the economy $11 billion, including $3 billion in economic activity that can never be recovered,” Schumer said from the Senate floor on Monday.
“What a devastating and pointless exercise this has been,” the minority leader added. “No more shutdowns. They accomplish nothing. They only inflict pain and suffering on the country, our citizens, our economy, our national security.”
Pavlich responded to a clip Schumer posted of his remarks, tweeting, “Trump asked for $5 billion. You could have avoided all of this.”
Trump asked for $5 billion. You could have avoided all of this. https://t.co/uILKcEVyKG
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) January 29, 2019
Asked on Monday at the White House whether he agreed with the CBO’s assessment, Trump’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow answered that he did not.
“No, I won’t acknowledge any of that right now,” he said.
.@MajorCBS: “Do you consider valid, the estimates that the shutdown costs the U.S. economy between $8 billion and $11 billion?”@larry_kudlow: “I won’t acknowledge any of that right now.” pic.twitter.com/ViZ4VS2gQ1
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 28, 2019
Kudlow observed that “in a $20 trillion economy, it’s awfully hard to make even the best guesstimates of those kinds of small fractions of numbers.”
“The switch goes right back on,” he added. “There’s certainly no permanent damage to the economy.”
Kudlow did acknowledge that “the hardships for individuals was always the key problem here” for the president and lawmakers.
Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took a victory lap on Friday after Trump announced he would agree to reopen the federal government for three weeks to allow a bi-partisan group of lawmakers to seek a compromise on border security.
Democrats opposed Trump’s request for $5.7 billion in funding to build new and upgrade existing barriers at the U.S. border with Mexico, though many of the lawmakers, including Schumer, have supported their construction in the past.
“Democrats in the Senate and the House were united behind this position throughout the shutdown and ultimately this agreement endorses our position,” he said. “Hopefully, now the president has learned his lesson.”
“No one should ever underestimate the Speaker as Trump has learned,” Schumer added.
In announcing the decision to reopen the government on Friday, Trump held firm on the need for new border barrier funding.
“So let me be very clear: We really have no choice but to build a powerful wall or steel barrier,” he said. “If we don’t get a fair deal from Congress, the government will either shut down on February 15th, again, or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and the Constitution of the United States to address this emergency. We will have great security.”
A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll published this week shows that Trump’s job approval rating remained essentially unchanged during the partial government shutdown, while respondents having a “very negative” view of Pelosi increased by 6 percentage points.
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